2014 European Women's Handball Championship

The 2014 European Women's Handball Championship was the eleventh continental tournament for women's national teams, organized by the European Handball Federation. The second jointly hosted edition in the competition's history took place in Hungary and Croatia from 7 to 21 December 2014.^[2]

2014 European Women's Handball Championship

Official logo
Tournament details
Host countries	Hungary Croatia
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Dates	7–21 December
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Final positions
Champions	Norway (6th title)
Runners-up	Spain
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	Montenegro
Tournament statistics
Matches played	47
Goals scored	2,375 (50.53 per match)
Attendance	122,070 (2,597 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Isabelle Gulldén (58 goals)
Awards
Best player	Isabelle Gulldén[1]
← Previous Next →

Norway won their sixth title after beating Spain 28–25 in the final.^[3] Sweden defeated Montenegro 25–23 to capture the bronze medal.^[4]

Norway's victory ensured their qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics. However, they later won the 2015 World Women's Handball Championship, vacating the European champion Olympic berth which fell to Spain as the runner-up. The two next-best placed teams, Sweden and Montenegro, earned spots in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

Host selection

Initially there were two applicants for the tournament, Slovenia and Turkey, with none of them having the experience of organizing a continental event before. However, both candidates withdrew their offers later, thus the host nation could not be selected on the 10th Ordinary EHF Congress between 24 and 25 September 2010 as it was planned.^[5]

Instead, the European Handball Federation re-launched the bidding process. As a result, six federations (Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey) showed intention to host the championship. Until the final deadline of 28 January 2011, EHF received three bids from four federations:^[6]

•  Hungary /  Croatia (joint bid)
•  Slovakia
•  Turkey

After a thorough analysis, Slovakia was excluded from the race first, as they failed to ensure a minimum of four arenas that meet the strict criteria for the European Championship.^[7] The EHF Executive Committee decided between the two remaining aspirants on its meeting on 9 April 2011, awarding the right to host the 11th Women's EHF European Handball Championship to Hungary and Croatia.^[2]

Venues

Country	City	Arena	Capacity	Round
Hungary	Budapest	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena	12,500	Knockout stage
	Debrecen	Főnix Hall	8,500	Group B, Main round
	Győr	Audi Aréna	5,000	Group A
Croatia	Zagreb	Arena Zagreb	15,200	Main round
	Varaždin	Varaždin Arena	5,200	Group C
	Osijek	Gradski vrt Hall	3,538	Group D

Qualification

Main article: 2014 European Women's Handball Championship qualification

Qualified teams

Country	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
Croatia	01Host nation	9 April 2011	7 (1994, 1996, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Hungary	01Host nation	9 April 2011	10 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Norway	02Winner of Group 6	26 March 2014	10 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
France	02Winner of Group 2	29 March 2014	7 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Russia	03Runner-up of Group 7	29 March 2014	10 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Montenegro	02Winner of Group 3	30 March 2014	2 (2010, 2012)
Denmark	02Winner of Group 1	4 June 2014	10 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Germany	02Winner of Group 7	11 June 2014	10 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Slovakia	03Runner-up of Group 2	11 June 2014	1 (1994)
Spain	02Winner of Group 4	11 June 2014	7 (1998, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Sweden	02Winner of Group 5	11 June 2014	8 (1994, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Netherlands	03Runner-up of Group 4	12 June 2014	4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Poland	03Runner-up of Group 3	14 June 2014	3 (1996, 1998, 2006)
Romania	03Runner-up of Group 6	15 June 2014	9 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Serbia	03Runner-up of Group 5	15 June 2014	3 (2008, 2010, 2012)
Ukraine	03Runner-up of Group 1	15 June 2014	10 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year.

Seeding

The draw was held on 19 June 2014 at 13:00 local time in Zagreb, Croatia.^[8][9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Montenegro  Norway  Hungary  Sweden	Denmark  Germany  France  Spain	Croatia  Serbia  Russia  Romania	Ukraine  Poland  Slovakia  Netherlands

Squads

Main article: 2014 European Women's Handball Championship squads

Referees

12 referee pairs were selected:^[10]

Referees  Croatia Dalibor Jurinović Marko Mrvica  Czech Republic Jiří Opava Pavel Válek  Denmark Dennis Stenrand Anders Birch  France Charlotte Bonaventura Julie Bonaventura  Germany Robert Schulze Tobias Tönnies  Hungary Péter Horváth Balázs Márton

Referees  Norway Kjersti Arntsen Guro Røen  Romania Diana-Carmen Florescu Anamaria Stoia  Russia Evgenij Zotin Nikolaj Volodkov  Slovakia Peter Brunovský Vladimír Čanda  Spain Andreu Marín Ignacio García  Turkey Kürşad Erdoğan İbrahim Özdeniz

Preliminary round

The playing schedule was released on 4 June 2014.^[11]

All times are local (UTC+1).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	3	0	0	81	72	+9	6	Main round
2	Hungary (H)	3	1	1	1	84	79	+5	3
3	Poland	3	1	0	2	74	84	−10	2
4	Russia	3	0	1	2	79	83	−4	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

7 December 2014 18:00	Spain	29–22	Poland	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Martín 9	(16–13)	Kudłacz 6
	3× 4×	Report	3× 3×

7 December 2014 20:30	Hungary	29–29	Russia	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 4,800 Referees: Brunovský, Čanda (SVK)
	Triscsuk 6	(14–15)	Dmitrieva 7
	2× 5×	Report	3× 3×

---

9 December 2014 18:15	Russia	24–25	Spain	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	Kuznetcova, Sen 5	(14–13)	Martín 9
	3× 5×	Report	2× 7× 1×

9 December 2014 20:30	Poland	23–29	Hungary	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Opava, Válek (CZE)
	Kudłacz 7	(7–14)	Mayer, Tomori 6
	4× 5×	Report	3× 4×

---

11 December 2014 18:15	Russia	26–29	Poland	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 4,100 Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Bliznova, Punko 7	(11–13)	Kudłacz 9
	4× 5×	Report	3× 9× 1×

11 December 2014 20:30	Hungary	26–27	Spain	Audi Aréna, Győr Attendance: 4,800 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Tomori, Triscsuk 6	(13–13)	Martín 10
	3× 2×	Report	3× 5×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	3	3	0	0	88	63	+25	6	Main round
2	Denmark	3	1	1	1	82	79	+3	3
3	Romania	3	1	1	1	71	78	−7	3
4	Ukraine	3	0	0	3	68	89	−21	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

7 December 2014 18:15	Norway	27–19	Romania	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Oftedal 5	(16–7)	Neagu 7
	3× 1×	Report	4× 4×

7 December 2014 20:30	Denmark	32–23	Ukraine	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	Nørgaard 8	(14–11)	Borshchenko 7
	3× 5×	Report	4× 6×

---

9 December 2014 18:15	Romania	29–29	Denmark	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Brunovský, Čanda (SVK)
	Neagu, Țăcălie 10	(16–12)	Fisker 8
	3× 4×	Report	3× 6×

9 December 2014 20:30	Ukraine	23–34	Norway	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Glibko 7	(13–17)	Mørk, Solberg 6
	2× 5×	Report	1× 3× 1×

---

11 December 2014 18:15	Romania	23–22	Ukraine	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 2,200 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Neagu 8	(12–9)	Borshchenko 10
	3× 5×	Report	3× 3×

11 December 2014 20:30	Norway	27–21	Denmark	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Opava, Válek (CZE)
	Løke 7	(12–13)	Burgaard, Nørgaard 4
	3× 3×	Report	3× 3×

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	3	2	1	0	99	90	+9	5	Main round
2	Netherlands	3	1	1	1	86	87	−1	3
3	Germany	3	1	0	2	84	92	−8	2
4	Croatia (H)	3	1	0	2	83	83	0	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

8 December 2014 18:00	Germany	26–29	Netherlands	Varaždin Arena, Varaždin Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Horváth, Márton (HUN)
	Huber, Naidzinavicius 6	(11–12)	Polman 7
	2× 5×	Report	2× 8×

8 December 2014 20:15	Sweden	30–28	Croatia	Varaždin Arena, Varaždin Attendance: 3,400 Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
	Gulldén 7	(17–17)	Penezić, Zebić 6
	3× 4×	Report	3× 3×

---

10 December 2014 18:00	Netherlands	30–30	Sweden	Varaždin Arena, Varaždin Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Marín, García (ESP)
	Polman 10	(14–14)	Odén 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 4×

10 December 2014 20:15	Croatia	24–26	Germany	Varaždin Arena, Varaždin Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Florescu, Stoia (ROU)
	Penezić 13	(14–13)	Minevskaja, S. Müller 5
	3×	Report	3× 5×

---

12 December 2014 18:00	Sweden	39–32	Germany	Varaždin Arena, Varaždin Attendance: 1,300 Referees: Stenrand, Birch (DEN)
	Gulldén 10	(23–17)	Nadgornaja 9
	3× 4×	Report	3× 1×

12 December 2014 20:15	Croatia	31–27	Netherlands	Varaždin Arena, Varaždin Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Arntsen, Røen (NOR)
	Penezić 11	(17–15)	Van der Heijden 5
	3× 5×	Report	2× 3×

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	3	0	0	72	54	+18	6	Main round
2	Montenegro	3	2	0	1	70	67	+3	4
3	Slovakia	3	1	0	2	65	70	−5	2
4	Serbia	3	0	0	3	56	72	−16	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

8 December 2014 18:00	France	21–18	Slovakia	Gradski vrt Hall, Osijek Attendance: 1,300 Referees: Stenrand, Birch (DEN)
	Dembélé 6	(7–9)	Školková, Trehubová 4
	4× 4×	Report	4× 3×

8 December 2014 20:15	Montenegro	22–19	Serbia	Gradski vrt Hall, Osijek Attendance: 2,200 Referees: Florescu, Stoia (ROU)
	K. Bulatović, Lazović 5	(10–8)	Lekić 6
	4× 3×	Report	4× 1×

---

10 December 2014 18:00	Serbia	16–27	France	Gradski vrt Hall, Osijek Attendance: 1,400 Referees: Horváth, Márton (HUN)
	Rajović, Stoiljković 4	(3–11)	Lacrabère 6
	2× 2×	Report	3× 7× 1×

10 December 2014 20:15	Slovakia	24–28	Montenegro	Gradski vrt Hall, Osijek Attendance: 1,900 Referees: Arntsen, Røen (NOR)
	Dubajová 5	(10–20)	Radičević 6
	3× 2×	Report	3× 5×

---

12 December 2014 18:00	Montenegro	20–24	France	Gradski vrt Hall, Osijek Attendance: 2,000 Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
	Knežević 6	(12–12)	Pineau 8
	3× 2×	Report	4× 5×

12 December 2014 20:15	Serbia	21–23	Slovakia	Gradski vrt Hall, Osijek Attendance: 2,600 Referees: Marín, García (ESP)
	Cvijić 6	(11–6)	Jakubisová 8
	3× 4×	Report	3× 4× 1×

Main round

All times are local (UTC+1).

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	5	4	0	1	134	119	+15	8	Semifinals
2	Spain	5	3	0	2	131	121	+10	6
3	Hungary (H)	5	3	0	2	124	117	+7	6	Fifth place game
4	Denmark	5	2	1	2	123	124	−1	5
5	Romania	5	2	1	2	113	115	−2	5
6	Poland	5	0	0	5	107	136	−29	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(H) Hosts

13 December 2014 16:00	Poland	19–28	Denmark	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	Siódmiak 5	(9–9)	Fisker 6
	3× 1×	Report	3× 2×

13 December 2014 18:15	Spain	26–29	Norway	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 4,000 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Pena 7	(16–16)	Riegelhuth 7
	2× 2×	Report[dead link]	3× 2×

13 December 2014 20:30	Hungary	20–19	Romania	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 5,370 Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
	Szucsánszki, Triscsuk 4	(10–8)	Neagu 8
	3× 3×	Report	4× 6×

---

15 December 2014 16:00	Spain	20–22	Romania	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Brunovský, Čanda (SVK)
	Pinedo 5	(14–9)	Neagu 7
	1× 4×	Report	3× 4×

15 December 2014 18:15	Poland	24–26	Norway	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Schulze, Tönnies (GER)
	Drabik 5	(15–11)	Mørk 11
	3× 4×	Report	2× 4×

15 December 2014 20:30	Hungary	20–23	Denmark	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 5,000 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Tomori, Tóth 5	(9–11)	L. Jørgensen 6
	3× 1×	Report	2× 2×

---

17 December 2014 16:00	Poland	19–24	Romania	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Erdoğan, Özdeniz (TUR)
	five players 3	(9–11)	Neagu 9
	4× 2×	Report	3× 3×

17 December 2014 18:15	Spain	29–22	Denmark	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Zotin, Volodkov (RUS)
	Barbosa 6	(15–12)	L. Jørgensen 7
	3× 1×	Report	3× 4×

17 December 2014 20:30	Hungary	29–25	Norway	Főnix Hall, Debrecen Attendance: 4,800 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Bulath 6	(15–11)	Løke 6
	3× 5×	Report	2× 2×

Group II

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Montenegro	5	4	0	1	136	124	+12	8	Semifinals
2	Sweden	5	3	1	1	158	140	+18	7
3	France	5	3	1	1	115	109	+6	7	Fifth place game
4	Netherlands	5	2	1	2	134	127	+7	5
5	Germany	5	1	1	3	138	141	−3	3
6	Slovakia	5	0	0	5	106	146	−40	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

14 December 2014 15:45	Germany	20–27	Montenegro	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Opava, Válek (CZE)
	Zapf 6	(10–12)	Knežević 8
	2× 5×	Report	3× 4×

14 December 2014 18:00	Sweden	29–26	France	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Marín, García (ESP)
	Hagman 7	(12–14)	Lacrabère 10
	3× 4×	Report	2× 4×

14 December 2014 20:15	Netherlands	30–20	Slovakia	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 1,200 Referees: Arntsen, Røen (NOR)
	Polman 7	(17–10)	Školková 6
	2× 3×	Report	3× 1×

---

16 December 2014 15:45	Netherlands	27–31	Montenegro	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 1,500 Referees: Florescu, Stoia (ROU)
	Polman 8	(13–15)	K. Bulatović 10
	3× 2×	Report	3× 5×

16 December 2014 18:00	Sweden	31–22	Slovakia	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 1,300 Referees: Horváth, Márton (HUN)
	Gulldén 9	(17–11)	Szarková 7
	3× 5×	Report	2× 4×

16 December 2014 20:15	Germany	24–24	France	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 800 Referees: Stenrand, Birch (DEN)
	Geschke 9	(13–10)	Baudouin, Dembélé 5
	2× 2×	Report[dead link]	4× 2×

---

17 December 2014 15:45	Sweden	29–30	Montenegro	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 1,000 Referees: Horváth, Márton (HUN)
	Gulldén 9	(18–13)	Radičević 9
	3× 4×	Report[dead link]	3× 4× 1×

17 December 2014 18:00	Germany	36–22	Slovakia	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 600 Referees: Arntsen, Røen (NOR)
	Huber, Lang 6	(17–10)	Dubajová 5
	2× 2×	Report	2× 3×

17 December 2014 20:15	Netherlands	18–20	France	Arena Zagreb, Zagreb Attendance: 600 Referees: Opava, Válek (CZE)
	Groot 10	(9–7)	three players 4
	3× 5×	Report	4× 6×

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semifinals				Final
	19 December
	Norway	29
					21 December
	Sweden	25
					Norway	28
	19 December
					Spain	25
	Spain	19
	Montenegro	18
					Third place game
					21 December
					Sweden	25
					Montenegro	23

All times are local (UTC+1).

Semifinals

19 December 2014 18:00	Montenegro	18–19	Spain	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Brunovský, Čanda (SVK)
	Radičević 6	(8–13)	Pinedo 5
	3× 1×	Report	1× 2×

---

19 December 2014 20:30	Norway	29–25	Sweden	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Jurinović, Mrvica (CRO)
	Løke 6	(13–11)	Gulldén 9
	2× 1×	Report	3× 1×

Fifth place game

19 December 2014 15:30	Hungary	25–26	France	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 3,500 Referees: Opava, Válek (CZE)
	Triscsuk 10	(13–16)	Nze Minko 7
	3× 5×	Report	4× 3×

Third place game

21 December 2014 15:30	Sweden	25–23	Montenegro	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 5,500 Referees: Arntsen, Røen (NOR)
	Gulldén 7	(11–12)	K. Bulatović 8
	2× 1× 1×	Report	3× 5×

Final

21 December 2014 18:00	Norway	28–25	Spain	László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Budapest Attendance: 7,500 Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Riegelhuth Koren 10	(10–12)	Pena 10
	3× 4×	Report	4× 5×

Final ranking

Rank	Team
	Norway
	Spain
	Sweden
4	Montenegro
5	France
6	Hungary
7	Netherlands
8	Denmark
9	Romania
10	Germany
11	Poland
12	Slovakia
13	Croatia
14	Russia
15	Serbia
16	Ukraine

	Qualified for the 2015 World Championship
	Qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics
	Qualified for the Olympic Qualification Tournament

Note: As Norway later qualified for the olympics as World Champions, the qualification slot went to the runner up instead and Montenegro qualified for the qualification tournament instead of Spain.

Awards

The all-star team and awards were announced on 21 December 2014.^[1]

All-Star Team

• Goalkeeper:  Silje Solberg (NOR)
• Right wing:  Carmen Martín (ESP)
• Right back:  Nora Mørk (NOR)
• Centre back:  Kristina Kristiansen (DEN)
• Left back:  Cristina Neagu (ROU)
• Left wing:  Maria Fisker (DEN)
• Pivot:  Heidi Løke (NOR)

Other awards

• Most Valuable Player:  Isabelle Gulldén (SWE)
• Best Defensive Player:  Sabina Jacobsen (SWE)

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Team	Goals	Shots	%
1	Isabelle Gulldén	Sweden	58	89	65%
2	Cristina Neagu	Romania	49	97	51%
3	Carmen Martín	Spain	46	65	71%
4	Katarina Bulatović	Montenegro	44	86	51%
5	Nora Mørk	Norway	41	69	59%
6	Krisztina Triscsuk	Hungary	39	53	74%
7	Nerea Pena	Spain	38	61	62%
8	Alexandra Lacrabère	France	37	73	51%
	Heidi Løke	Norway		51	73%
10	Ida Odén	Sweden	36	58	62%

Source: SportResult.com Archived 22 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	Team	%	Saves	Shots
1	Silje Solberg	Norway	41%	94	227
2	Paula Ungureanu	Romania	40%	80	198
3	Katja Schülke	Germany	39%	56	142
4	Éva Kiss	Hungary	38%	72	188
	Sandra Toft	Denmark		62	163
6	Amandine Leynaud	France	36%	56	157
	Silvia Navarro	Spain		89	247
8	Marina Vukčević	Montenegro	34%	21	62
	Marta Žderić	Croatia		27	80
10	Sonja Barjaktarović	Montenegro	33%	71	217

Source: SportResult.com Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine